Wednesday, August 11, 2010

If you have University and are looking for a new challenge that doesn't take forever to complete, try my new Lifetime Wants Challenge.

The Goal: See how many times two Sims can reach their Lifetime Wants (each time you obtain a Lifetime Want, a new one is generated). You cannot use Elixir of Life to extend the life of your sims, you cannot use the Resurrection Machine and you cannot turn aging off - you only get one lifetime to do this. You also cannot use boolProp, Motherload or any other cheats or hacks, except move objects if needed.

1. Make a new male Young Adult Sim and a new female Young Adult Sim. You can assign personality points any way you want but keep in mind that these two will be living together their entire lives so they should be compatible, though they do not have to get married if you don’t want them to (see #3). Make them both Knowledge Sims for now.

2. Move them both in to the same PREVIOUSLY UNPLAYED Maxis dorm at any University you choose. I started a new neighborhood with a new university, but as long as you use a dorm in an existing neighborhood that you have not played before, that's ok too. (it has to be an unplayed MAXIS dorm so they do not benefit from any prior upgrades/improvements you might have made to a played or custom dorm).

3. The reason you make them Knowledge Sims to start is because they are the easiest to keep happy at University, but once you get the option to change their Aspiration in Junior Year, you must roll the dice and assign a new Aspiration based on the number on the dice:1. Family2. Popularity3. Fortune4. Romance5. Stays a Knowlege Sim/or Pleasure if you have Nightlife6. Your Choice/or Grilled Cheese if you have Nightlife

4. After they receive their new Aspiration, check your sim's Lifetime Wants. From this point on, everything you do will be geared towards achieving these wants. If you have a Lifetime Want that is just too hard to do, see #7 for the solution.

5. After Graduation from University, move your two sims to any unoccupied lot or house you want, providing you stay within budget (you should have $20,000 per sim) and they do not move in with an established family, those are the only two requirements.

6. You do not have to play the Chance Cards, but if you do, you cannot exit and restart if something negative happens. In fact, you cannot exit and restart after any bad event at all.

7. You can move in/move out/get married to/have children with, etc. any Townie/NPC/CAS sims at any time, but your two main sims must always stay together in the same house so that they age at the same time. The only exception to this is during Junior Year when you roll for the new Aspiration. If the new Lifetime Want is too hard to complete, you may create and move in a new sim of the same gender of the sim you are replacing (move out the sim you do not want) and play that sim until Graduation. The first sim will graduate first, and must wait in the Simbin until the new sim graduates, then they can move into the neighborhood together.

The moment your sims return from their last final at the end of Senior Year (this is when they receive the 3 extra days to tie up loose ends but before they leave campus), give yourself points as follows:

1. One Point for each skill point achieved so far2. One Point for each Best Friend obtained so far3. 10 Points for each Sim whose Influence Bar is full .4. 10 Points for each Sim that graduates with a 4.0 GPA5. 10 Bonus Points for any Sim that Graduates With Honors (check memories)

The rest of the points are obtained after University: (The challenge ends after both sims have passed away)

1. 50 Points per Sim when they reach their First Lifetime Want2. 10 Points each time they reach a new & different Lifetime Want after that (no points for those repeating career wants anymore, sorry!).3. 25 Bonus Points per Sim if they max all their Skill Points.4. 10 points for each $25,000 that each Sim earns in his or her Lifetime (can be checked by looking at his memories).5.10 points for each of the following: Any alien abduction, Twins born on lot, Getting $50,000 or more in a single Chance Card or Accumulating more than 250,000 Aspiration Points (one time only per sim), Total Household Value at the end of the game $100,000 or more and 10 or more Career Reward Objects on Lot.6. Since the entire Challenge is based on achieving Wants, subtract -5 points for each Bad Memory per sim

SPECIAL POINTS UPON BECOMING AN ELDER7. 10 points each time your Elder Sim teaches any toddler living in the house how to walk, talk or go potty.8. 5 Points for each Masterpiece sold as an Elder9. 25 points for each Best Selling Novel sold as an Elder (I HATE novels - they take SOOO long!).

My two sims are in the middle of their adulthood and so far my points are as follows:

1. Don’t make your two sims fall in love with each other until after you roll for the new Aspiration. That way if you end up with a Family sim and a Romance sim, the Family sim can marry someone else and the Romance sim can still have their fun without any jealousy between the two. You would just have to keep all three sims living together throughout the challenge.2. I used the extra three days at university before the Graduation parties to earn 12 more skill points for each sim and to make one more friend. Though they do not count for the score, both helped towards reaching the Lifetime Wants.3. Since you’ll be starting in a dorm with just $500 per sim, you can sell off anything in the dorm that you do not need to raise money for whatever you do need, keeping in mind that the more you spend, the more your bills go up.

I would sure like to know what you all think of this challenge, and if you decide to try it, how you are doing. Any questions/suggestions/comments/etc. are appreciated. Thanks so much!

Based on a lot of thought and input from another simmer, I've decided to add the following additional points due to the fact that some sims can no longer earn points after they become an elder if their Lifetime Wants are Career Related:1. 10 points for each $25,000 that any Sim earns in his or her Lifetime (can be checked by looking at his memories).2. Instead of splitting 10 points between the two sims for Graduating With Honors in Uni, make it 10 points for any sim that graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a bonus of 10 extra points if they Graduate with Honors as well (they have to have the Want to Graduate With Honors and they have to achieve it to get the points).3. 10 points each time an Elder teaches any toddler living in the house how to walk, talk or go potty.4. 5 Points for each Masterpiece sold as an Elder5. 25 points for each Best Selling Novel sold as an Elder (I HATE novels - they take SOOO long!).6. -5 points for each Bad Memory per sim

Don't forget that all Aspirations already get the 25 point bonus for maxing skills - not just the Knowledge sims, so that's another thing your elders can work on if they haven't already done it. Also, just to clarify, you get points if EITHER of your sims are kidnapped by aliens, not just the male.

Finally, I realized that even though I said hacks were not allowed, I have several hacks in my game. Though none of these really affect the challenge, I thought I would 'fess up to them and allow them in the challenge:

1. No Cheering Hack (shortens the length of time kids spend cheering about their A+'s)2. Stereo Hack (makes sims leave the dang stereo alone so I can listen to my music)3. Telephone Hack (I turn off the ringer and now I don't hate the phones any more)4. Nude hack (I downloaded it once out of curiosity and now I can't get rid of it)5. Stop Browsing for Clothes for Hours Like a Moron Hack (sims will now just BUY without BROWSING)6. Aspiration Rewards Recharge Hack (Can recharge the energizer, thinking caps and a couple other aspiration rewards, even while the thinking cap is on the head).